1. Field
Apparatuses and methods consistent with exemplary embodiments relate to a backlight unit that uses a light source to emit light and a light guide plate to transmit the light for displaying an image, and a display apparatus having the same, and more particularly, to a backlight unit including a plurality of light guide plates corresponding to a plurality of divided display areas, respectively, and a display apparatus having the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A display apparatus includes a display panel where an image is displayed, and is capable of processing a broadcasting signal or video data of various formats, e.g., to be displayed, which can be achieved by a television (TV), a monitor, etc. Types of display panels include a liquid crystal display panel, a plasma display panel or the like. If the display panel cannot generate light by itself, the display apparatus includes a backlight unit that generates and emits light to the display panel.
The backlight unit of the display apparatus may include light emitting diodes (LEDs) as a light source for generating light since LEDs are excellent in environmental protection, response time, etc. as compared with a cold cathode fluorescent lamp. The backlight unit is classified into a direct type and an edge type according to relative positions of a light source to a light guide plate.
In the case of the direct-type backlight unit, a light source is arranged in parallel to and along a rear surface of the light guide plate, so that the light source can directly emit light to the display panel placed in front thereof. On the other hand, in the case of the edge-type backlight unit, a light source is arranged in the form of a bar along the edges of the light guide plate, so that light from the light source can enter the edge of the light guide plate and be projected to the display panel. Since the light source of the edge-type backlight unit is arranged at the edge of the light guide plate, the edge-type backlight unit is advantageously slimmer than the direct-type backlight unit and thus widely used in display apparatuses.